Ancient Paths Blog

Walking With God, by John Eldredge

The first time I heard of John Eldredge it was for Wild At Heart his book about manhood.  Though I am interested in biblical manhood I didn't read it.  Why?  Unfortunately it came out just after the theological controversy over Open Theism had rankled our denomination in the late 1990s.  It was pointed out to me at this time that the author - though denying he was doing so - entertained many of the concepts of this heresy in his book and I just couldn't see putting up with it.

So when this book, Walking With God, by the same author was handed to me I was reluctant to spend any time on it.  However, on a personal note, I am now dealing with cancer and am being driven to draw nearer to God in the process.  The subtitle to the book: "Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really" was what I wanted - so I began reading.

The Resurrection of Jesus Ensures Ours!

What is the significance of Christ's resurrection?  It was not simply a surprising development in the ongoing story of Jesus - an event with no abiding significance to His work other than to baffle the religious authorities.

On the contrary, Christ's resurrection is the beating heart of the gospel; the fulfillment of Israel's prophetic hope and - as I hope to show here - the event which ensures the resurrection of every believer!

The Resurrection of Jesus Fulfills Prophecy

Paul has already told us that "Christ died for our sins... was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures," 1Corinthians 15:3-4.  Which scripture he has in mind he does not say immediately.  It's not until he's refuted the Corinthians' attempt to hold on to the gospel but deny the resurrection (a magnificent use of reductio ad absurdumin vv.13-19) that he makes a remark in passing about Jesus being our first-fruits.

In v.20 he says, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep."  While we might be tempted to ignore this as an attempt at poetic eloquence by Paul, we should realize this is actually an allusion to the scriptures Paul has already mentioned.  Leviticus 23:9-14 outlines a ritual offering of the first of the harvest.

Paul and the Logic of Pretribulationism

Allow me a passing comment on the end times based upon my continuing study in 1&2 Thessalonians before going back to the Resurrection --

A pastor counsels according to the teaching of the Scripture.  Quite often what to say to someone in a given situation is not dependent on a single command or verse but the overall teaching of the scriptures and the logic which that teaching imposes.

For instance: if someone came into my study and said something like, "Pastor, I just can't seem to do enough good works to assuage my sense of guilt and assure myself that I'm accepted by God." 

No Resurrection, No Gospel!

I'm guessing that most evangelicals have little to no appreciation of the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Why would I say this?  Well, for starters we only hear about it once a year (at Easter), and then it's off to other things...

But if the Bible spends a great amount of time to defend a single truth it's this - that Jesus rose form the dead. In fact it is not too much to say if there is no resurrection, there is no gospel!

What's the Heart of the Gospel? It's Not the Cross!

In a recent study through the Apostles' Creed we noticed that the very midpoint - counting words - was the "the" in the phrase "He rose again from the dead."  Whether by accident or design the Apostles' Creed has placed the assertion of Christ's resurrection at the very center of our faith.

But I proposed to my class that this is precisely the view of the Apostles (the real ones; not the legendary ones who supposedly wrote the creed named for them).  The resurrection was the heart of their gospel preaching - how different from our approach today.